I was watching Dead Poet’s Society last night (the Special Edition DVD came out last week and I couldn’t pass up the chance to add one more DVD to my collection) anyway, there are lots of interesting themes addressed in the film. I have always wanted to use the scene where Keating (Robin Williams) instructs his students to rip out the introduction of their poerty text book because its clinical approach to poetry robs the work of its beauty and mystery. (the parallel to the way evangelicals approach the scriptures is great).
But this time watching the film I caught something new. In the poem that Ethan Hawke’s character writes for this class he talks about a man that mumbles truth, “truth, like a blanket that leaves your feet cold.” The image of that line stuck in my head through the rest of the film.
“Truth like a blanket that leaves your feet cold.”
Still working on what that means for me.
I have used that clip many times to begin teaching my unit on poetry. It is a ‘good-er’ … may I suggest a marvelous book by Ken Gire called “The Reflective Life” where he makes a direct connection between that scene and Christ? The book as a whole is amazing, but the section that connects this scene in this film with the life of Christ is powerful beyond words. A ‘clip’ from the book:
“The ideals of the school are etched in the stone above its pillars: Tradition, Honor. Discipline. Excellence. Keating’s ideas are enfleshed in his life: Poetry. Beauty. Romance. Love. The conflict between Jesus and the religious establishment was over similar ideas. Chiseled into the thinking of the scribes and Pharisees were the ideals: Law. Tradition. Ritual. Morality. Into that establishment came a teacher with no formal education and a loyal following of disciples. He espoused things very much like: Poetry. Beauty. Romance. Love. He told the, essentially, to rip out whatever human teachings or traditions were smothering their passion for God and for people. …. There is a battle, a war, and the casualities could be our hearts and souls. The Christian life is about passion. Passion for God and passion for people in need. … All of us at some time or another have been guilty of approaching the Scriptures that way. ['that way' in reference to removing the object of our love from the thing we live for.] Detaching it from the source of its life. Dissecting it in order to study it. We study it as a handbook of principles when we should see it as poetry. We study it as a treatise on theology, when we should see it as beauty. We study it as a record of biblical history, when we should see it as romance. We study it as a code of conduct when we should see it as love.”
Nice. I might try to track that book down.